Kickass and Departure Day

Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on the first day—May 22, 2022, of the keeper and Phyllis’s train/ship, mountain/glacier adventure, noting that travel excitement tends to peak on departure day. And this one is special: though the keeper and Phyllis have both done extensive individual traveling, this is among …
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Kickass and Packing for Travel

Mrbeastmodeallday, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observation that humans are the only species that “packs”—and needs to, in preparation for travel, as he and Phyllis get ready for their train/ship tour of mountains and glaciers. With all other species, when they decide to go somewhere, they simply …
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Kickass and Travel Reasons

Sbork, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper likes to stress that he–and Phyllis are no more than extreme examples of the natural world run amuck, and their activities are dictated by forces as naturally explainable as why a squirrel buries nuts, or a bird migrates; …
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Kickass and Railroad Trip

Great Northern Railway, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cautions the keeper not to assume that National Railroad Day is being celebrated this week just because he and Phyllis plan to board a train Sunday in Columbus as the start of a three-week excursion that includes a boat ride …
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Kickass and 757 Travel Plans

Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that Phyllis’s weekend visit with her Ohio daughter Gina has put the keeper in a state of some discombobulation, but it has also given him an opportunity to suggest future travel plans for Phyllis that would include …
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Immoral Support

Artwork by Michael DiMilo             In a story that recently went viral, an ad agency employee was summoned to a meeting with his human resources supervisor, presumably to be terminated, and was told that he would be able to have a “support” person accompany him to the interview. The employee elected to bring a clown as …
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The Blurry Line

Artwork by Michael DiMilo             This last week, my family and I took a mini-vacation to the family cabin in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The cottage has been in our family for a little over fifty years and sits on a beautiful spring-fed lake. After my father passed away, my mom—as she’s fond of telling—used to …
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King of the Road

Artwork by Michael DiMilo             I’m an excellent driver. After all, I have been doing it for almost fifty years. I’ve owned a variety of vehicles, including everything from a 1964 Volkswagen Microbus (fondly nicknamed the Microdot bus) to a 1962 pink Cadillac, to SUVs, convertibles, sticks, automatics, and even a vintage 1967 VW Karmann Ghia. …
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